As a temple organisation we pay the same as any
other organization would pay for accounts and any articles required. We can’t go
to Pick ‘n’ Pay and say ‘I need 20 bottles of 2 litre Coke so give me a special
price because I come from the Gayathri Peedam’. We have to pay the same but we
don’t receive enough contributions to offset that. Many of you pay timeously
and many of you religiously make sure that you pay every month on pournmami. To
all of you I say thank you. That has helped.
To sustain the organisation we really
need to look at another way of increasing our monthly funding. And that can
only be done through you. Only you can make that possible. I’m slowly aging out
of this organization and I can see it. I don’t want this dream of my guru to
fall by the wayside. Just as my guru has given me a dream in Africa, I intend
to leave my dream with each one of you. And my dream is that you keep the
Gayathri Peedam as a space ship of the material Startrek, and let the Gayathri
mantra be the fuel for each one of you. This is very important.
Before my guru left his physical
body he said to me ‘Shankarananda, I’ll be residing in South Africa after I
leave this body, just because you are there’. And I know that as I stand here
he’s listening to my words. And I know that if I leave this body you, as the
future custodians of the Gayathri Peedam, will make it my dream that the Gayathri
mantra is recited by everybody who walks through this door and walks out. Just
as my doors are open to you at all times, I pray that you will keep these doors
open after my demise. This is important for everyone. To mentally make a
promise to ensure that the sustenance of this organisation grows from strength
to strength and that each one of you as custodians of this organisation hold
high the name of Gayathri Peedam wherever you go.
We’ve also talked about starting an
open university for the senior secondary students, and we have the expertise of
Suren in accounting, Deeps in physics and maths, and Radhika. To principal this
university we have Donovan Nair. This is something that has to start because I
want to tell you that every child who goes to a private school, when finished
they go to a public teacher after hours to get a better education even though
the parents are paying fantastic amounts to go to a private school. We want
those students who cannot afford to pay teachers after school hours to come to
us and be taught in the subjects that I just mentioned – free of charge.
We have schools around us
where children do not have breakfast and they don’t know whether they will get
a meal in the evening. We used to feed them but my funds ran out and I stopped.
Then Deepak started again but eventually we found that at the school we were
helping, the bread and jam started to grow legs so we stopped. But there are
other schools here that we can help to sustain. Something for all of you to
know is that even if we use R1 from your contribution to feed one child, it is
considered anadanam. That means ‘feeding God’ because each one of us is made in
the image of God, and because are made in the image of God we should be equal
to God in certain aspects. Atma sudideni – the only cleanest part of our body
is our atma and that is God. Always remember that 10%
of your salary belongs to God. We Hindus are the only ones who don’t practice
this. Subramoney Swamigul of the Himalayan Academy, wrote an article on why
that 10 percent is so important.
I’m going to conclude by saying
that for 23 years I’ve never worked one day, but my abundance to God, in
whatever way, has sustained me all these years until this day. And I rely on
that abundance continuously. So you will find, and Deeps is my witness, there
is no organization that walks through these gates that doesn’t receive a
donation from the Gayathri Peedam. As you give, so you will receive. I’m going
to conclude by asking you to please fill in the forms in front of you so that
we can contact you whenever we want to, especially when we want to increase
your subs. May god bless you.
Hari Om.
